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Monday, September 28, 2015

PLUCKY CARIEN DU PLESSIS - ONLY ONE OF FOUR ATTACKED JOURNALISTS NOT IN HIDING

Dear Journalists everywhere,

Carien du Plessis

It’s pathetic when journalists, who are in the
business of holding other people to account can’t take it when the roles are
reversed.

Like so many people in different walks
of life they often fail dismally when it comes to practising what they preach
when they are cornered. You would think that as judges of our morals they would
set a higher standard than this.

They should all be man enough (sorry
to a lot of you about that man reference but I can’t think of a better way of
putting it) to take criticism if they are in the reporting business.

After
I took journalists Carien du Plessis, Rebecca Davies, Martin Hatcheul and
Louise Marsland to task for something they Tweeted, all of them except Carien
ducked for cover behind a Twitter BLOCK. They presumably felt safe in their
chicken runs believing that this would ensure there was no longer a danger of
me getting at them for anything they tweeted.

It wasn’t as though I had attacked
them personally or used any troll like language to malign them.

Their reprisal was the equivalent of a newspaper
cancelling the subscription of someone who disagreed with its policy.

All except Marsland were mentioned in
various posts of mine for using vulgar language on Twitter (women's sweary wall). I felt that as this would not normally be allowed in any of the publications
they write for it was not in keeping with the way journalists as public figures
should behave on an open platform like the internet.

Carien,
the City Press’ senior political reporter, was the exception in that she was
big enough to just cut out the bad language and do nothing to prevent me
monitoring her future Tweets. Well done Carien that’s how all journalists with
any backbone should behave.

Davis
the built in dictionary scribe writes for the online paper The Daily Maverick. After
my post about her she justified her language in a Maverick article (Telling it like it isn't) and
subsequently closed the door to me on her Twitter account.

DAVIS HIDING IN HER CHICKEN RUN

Unlike
any of the others Hatchuel (Top Sweary Man), a Knysna freelance, directed one of his uncouth
Tweets at me personally. Here it is.

In Marsland’s case (Mommy Blog)I merely
disapproved of the stance she took against Pick n Pay on Twitter and in Bizcommunity.com. The supermarket
group earned her ire when it asked her to remove her tweet which gave the link
to Celeste Barlow’s extremely vulgar post about its very successful Stikeez promotion.

Journo on the run

Marsland
the editor of Bizcommunity.com is a South African 25-year media veteran who
claims to have been an “influential journalist, editor, columnist and public
speaker.” So with
that kind of background you wouldn’t have thought that she would have been
so easily scared of what I might do if I was allowed to access any more of her
tweets.

Journalists are quick to go crying
into print if some government or other body threatens their freedom of
expression. But when this very freedom turns against them personally it can be
a completely different story as this post so clearly illustrates.

Reporting in the Maverick on the
decision of Media 24, South Africa’s
largest online news publisher, to cease accepting reader’s comments Davis wrote: “The
announcement has already polarised opinion, with some perceiving it as part of
a sinister slide towards a public discourse where only certain opinions are
judged ‘correct’ enough to be aired.”

By
blocking me isn’t this exactly what these journalists are doing?

We
all make mistakes Carien (except yours truly of course), but it’s the way we
deal with them afterwards that shows our true character. And this is where your
score was sky high.

Well done again Carien. You certainly showed your
colleagues how to deal with criticism with courage and dignity.

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About Me

I was born in South Africa just before the Boer War whenever that was?
Started life with a golden spoon in my mouth which made eating rather difficult as a result I was under nourished as a child.
Went to a posh school where I only got moved up a class when my old man donated another sight screen for the cricket pitch.
Career prospects were dismal and I was once turned down for a job in the London sewers. "Too highly qualified;"that’s what they said.
I became a journalist when the Police Force wouldn’t have me.
Like most journos I know nothing about everything but I still write about it.
I decided to have my own blog so I wouldn't have to drink with the editor for hours on end to get my stuff published when according to my independent assessment it’s always of great news value.
My religious beliefs are: You only die once so remember, "You can’t be serious and Have Fun."
NEWS FLASH: I've just been appointed the Poor Man's Press Ombudsman by Presidential Decree (Not to be confused with the PRESS COUNCIL OF SOUTH AFRICA'S, SA Press Ombudsman)